Promises of What I Seemed to Be

Part XVI (My Response)

Your experience at Austin Stone is exactly how I see churches adapting technology to the ever present need to make connections and build relationships. It's not technology for technology's sake. It's using technology as a means to an end not an end itself.

The last sentence of your response really caught my attention. We really are part of a generation that, as you say, has the "attention span of a gibbon with ADHD", although I think that might be unfair to gibbons worldwide. I've noticed a change in myself just over the last few months since I started working in terms of always wanting/needing something to occupy my attention. For example, before starting this job, I had never really paid much attention to my cell phone. Sure, with my phones in the past I had received calls and received (but could not send) text messages, but that was all my phone was there for. It wasn't a source of entertainment, it wasn't something that I used like an adult version of a mobile to distract me whenever I grew bored. Now, though, that I have the BlackBerry in hand, if there's ever a dull moment, I'll look down at my phone seeing who has posted something new on Twitter or looking to see if Liverpool has yet again disappointed me. I don't think it's to the point yet where others are distracted by me being distracted, but I have noticed the change in myself, even if no one else has yet.

Here's my question out of that rambling paragraph: What do we do to find the "balance" that we've discussed previously in this conversation between technology and solitude, between the amazing advances of the modern world and the quiet moments that man has been able to experience since the very beginning of time?

Two TV Sets and Two Cadillac Cars, You Know It Ain't Gonna Help Me At All

This is what we get with a culture raised on the combined diet of quick cuts of Sesame Street, Nintendo, and the internet.

Mr. Brotherton, the consultant, wrote in an e-mail message that it was customary now for professionals to lay BlackBerrys or iPhones on a conference table before a meeting — like gunfighters placing their Colt revolvers on the card tables in a saloon. “It’s a not-so-subtle way of signaling ‘I’m connected. I’m busy. I’m important. And if this meeting doesn’t hold my interest, I’ve got 10 other things I can do instead.’ ”

Don't get me wrong, though. I know that in a few months, I'm going to be handed a Blackberry during my initial days on the job and from there on out it is going to be a constant source of information and distraction. It just seems that we've lost something when we adopt the "entertain me or else" mindset that seems so prevalent in the continued upheaval of the technological age.

Current Reading
An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek

Someday, Everything is Gonna Sound Like a Rhapsody

As a follow-up to Tuesday's post on ACU's new iPhone/iPod Touch program, I thought I would bring together a few different voices from the interwebs on the topic:

• The Optimist: "Freshmen to Receive iPhone/iPod Touch"
• The Engadget Blog: "ACU Dishing Out iPhone/iPod Touch to All Incoming Freshmen". Also, please check out that comment section for a healthy dose of bigotry, speculation, and cynicism.
• Technovelgy: "iPhones for Freshmen at ACU"
• Innovation in College Media: "ACU and the iPhone: A Challenge for College Media". All the JMC readers of Running Down a Dream will note the Cade White shoutout in this article.
• Apple Links: "ACU to Give iPhone or iPod Touch to All Incoming Freshmen"
• streetinsider.com: "ACU to Pioneer New Learning Strategies Using Apple iPhone/iPod Touch"

Finally, the videos that started the phenomenon can be found here:

"Connected" Part 1: Social Uses

"Connected" Part 2: Academic Uses

Also, here's a video featuring ACU professor Dr. Bill Rankin and Director of Public Relations Lynne Bruton explaining the concept behind the videos:

Wondering What We Might Have Been

Note: This story was shamelessly stolen from the Blahg.

An Apple iPhone or iPod Touch will become a central part of Abilene Christian University's innovative learning experience this fall when all freshmen are provided one of these converged media devices, said Phil Schubert, ACU executive vice president.

At ACU - the first university in the nation to provide these cutting-edge media devices to its incoming class - freshmen will use the iPhones or iPod Touches to receive homework alerts, answer in-class surveys and quizzes, get directions to their professors' offices, and check their meal and account balances - among more than 15 other useful web applications already developed, said ACU Chief Information Officer Kevin Roberts.

"ACU First University in Nation to Provide iPhone or iPod Touch to all Incoming Freshmen"

So, if I burn my diploma and move back into Mabee Hall, does that mean you'll give me a phone?